I love mornings. I love the peacefulness, the time to myself and the prospect of having the whole day at my fingertips. I also love how much more productive I am when I get up early and apparently, I’m not the only one who reaps the early morning productivity benefits.
In an article on The Huffington Post titled, “The One Thing Crazy Successful People Do Every Morning,” it names numerous famously successful people such as Barack Obama, Anna Wintour and Maragaret Thatcher who have used the early morning hours to sneak in a little extra work or a workout. The article also discusses how early risers have been linked to being happier, more proactive, getting better grades, and even sleeping better. What’s not to like about that?
Psychologytoday.com theorizes that morning people are more productive and more successful because society is structured around a 8-5 schedule, with more emphasis being placed on the morning hours. These early risers took advantage of the morning hours to do something that they loved, which automatically started their day off on the right note.
That’s not to say that night owls don’t reap certain benefits themselves. Psychologytoday.com states that night owls are typically more creative, more outgoing, and have a better sense of humor, yet they are consistently out of the loop with the normal corporate schedule.
So how do you become a morning person? Health.usnews.com says you should start by setting a bed time so you can get enough sleep to get up early; so long are the days of trying to burn the candle at both ends. Sleep is still vital to your mental and physical health so you should never skimp on that just to get up early. You should also start by making a short list of what you would like to accomplish to ease yourself into a new routine before it eventually becomes habitual.
For me, the morning provides those undisturbed hours to relax before the day needs to begin or sneak in some work without the pressure to be somewhere or feeling as though I am missing out on something else. While I know I am not the norm, being a morning person college, I know it is a habit I’ll be happy to have upon entering the real world, oh so soon.
References:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201208/early-risers-are-happier-healthier-and-more-productive-night-owls
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/17/the-first-thing-these-suc_n_3588482.html
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/09/17/how-and-why-to-become-a-morning-person
I found this blog to be very informative and also relative to myself as a person who has trouble finding the energy to get up in the morning and start my day productively. I never really knew the benefits of waking up early. Now it is evident to me that it is clearly more beneficial to start your day earlier as you are likely to get more stuff done. Even if it is only an hour earlier it certainly helps. I know I often find myself up later than I should be just watching television or doing something not very productive. In fact, according to this article (http://www.forbes.com/pictures/lmj45hjhj/earn-better-grades/), it seems that one of the top benefits of waking up earlier is getting better grades, which will certainly influence me to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier!
I LOVE taking advantage of the morning. I think a majority of people schedule their classes in the afternoon so they can sleep in, but I do the exact opposite. I schedule them in the afternoon so I can take complete advantage of these crucial morning hours. I love to get up, grab a cup of coffee and be productive. I feel that I am more productive before 11am than I am all day most times.
An article from Forbes.com features 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8AM (this article reminded me of the article from huffington post you included ) http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2013/10/02/5-things-super-successful-people-do-before-8-am/
The article explains that morning people have been found to be more proactive and more productive. The 5 things are 1) exercise 2) map out your day 3) eat a healthy breakfast 4) visualizing or meditating 5) make your day top heavy
Now, just because successful people do these things before 8 AM doesn’t mean there is science behind it, however I’m sure there is a correlation between a wide variety of successful people and these 5 habits. Don’t you think that would make sense?
I referenced “morning people” above….what exactly would you consider a morning person?
Hi Kelsey, I too believe that waking up early is an essential key to having a successful and happy life. This site references a 2008 Texas University study (I couldn’t find the real study) that correlates waking up early to getting better grades. The study was in a form of a questionnaire and classified college students into either a morning type or an evening type. The results showed that the more of a morning person you are, the more likely you are to have a better GPA. Overall, the morning person group proved to have GPA a full point higher than the evening person group. That is, the morning group had an average of a 3.5 while the evening group had only a 2.5. Although I am unsure of the details of the study such as the number of people, it still seems pretty convincing that there is a correlation between students who wake up earlier to getting better grades.
Kelsey, great posts as a future young professional, I am worried about going out into the real world because I feel like college made me the ultimate anti-morning person, and I can foresee the struggles of getting up in the mornings, but thanks to your posts I can find tips on how to be that morning guy